Resilient railway bogie side bearings

ABSTRACT

A sidebearer for use as a resilient connection between a railway vehicle and a bogie to ensure that a railway vehicle can negotiate twists in the track of up to 1 in 150 without there being an intolerable transfer of load transversely across either bogie, to discourage rolling of a vehicle body as a whole on its bogies and to discourage hunting of the bogies themselves comprises a pair of rubber bushes between inner and outer housing members at least one of which has a bearing surface with which the longitudinal axes of the rubber bushes in the unloaded sidebearer make equal and opposite angles of less than 45*, the spring rates of the bushes being in the ranges one-half ton per inch to 8 tons per inch perpendicular to the bearing surface and 12 1/2 tons per inch to 14 tons per inch parallel to the bearing surface.

United States Patent Wilson et al. 45 A 1, 1972 RESILIENT RAILWAY BOGIE SIDE 2,788,250 4/1957 Blattner .L ..308/ 138 BEARINGS 3,255,712 6/1966 Barber ..l05/199 R [72] Inventory Eric J Wilson. Alan Henry gg 3,401,991 9/1968 MacDonnell ..105/199RX both of Sheffield England Primary Examiner-Arthur L. La Point [22] Filed: Aug. 2, 1971 Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran 1 pp No 168 492 Attorney-Watson, Cole, Grindle & Watson Related U.S. Application Data [57] ABSTRACT A sidebearer for use as a resilient connection between [63] fggg gfigzg gg Apn] a railway vehicle and a bogie to ensure that a railway vehicle can negotiate twists in the track .of up to l in 150 without there being an intolerable transfer of load [30] Fomgn Apphcaflon Priority Dam transversely across either bogie, to discourage rolling April 10, 1968 Great Britain ..l7,131/68 of a vehicle y as a whole n i s gie and t discourage hunting of the bogies themselves comprises [52] [1,5, CL 105 199 105 199 C, 30 37 a pair of rubber bushes between inner and outer hous- 30'8/133 ing members at least one of which has a bearing sur- 51 Im. Cl. ..B61f 5/14, B61f 5/16 F160 17/04 face with which lhhghudhlhl axes 0f the rubber [58] Field of Search 105/199 C 5 CB 199 R bushes in the unloaded sidebearer make equal and opb 308/137 posite angles of less than 45, the spring rates of the bushes being in the ranges one-half ton per inch to 8 [56] References Cited tons per inch perpendicular to the bearing surface and 12% tons per inch to 14 tons per inch parallel to the UNITED STATES PATENTS bearing surface 2,259,049 l0/l941 Swan et al ..308/138 2,350,301 5/1944 Cottrell ..308/138 2 6 D'awmg F'gms m T p Q i f'"" 24 55 8/ a7 a I 2 5 o {2202 6 E 2O 'ewaaaaaawaw I m.

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RESILIENT RAILWAY BOGIE SIDE BEARINGS This application is a continuation of our copending application Ser. No. 814,144, filed Apr. 7, 1969, now abandoned.

This invention relates to railway bogies, and is particularly concerned with providing means for ensuring that a railway vehicle can negotiate twists in the track of up to l in 150 without there being an intolerable transfer of load transversely across either bogie. However, since it is also necessary to discourage rolling of a vehicle body as a whole on its bogies and also hunting of the bogies themselves, it is convenient to provide means for dealing with all three matters, even though all three may not occur at one and the same time.

The invention makes use of resilient connections or sidebearersbetween the vehicle and the bogies at each side of the vertical pivots of the bogies and the underside of the vehicle.

According to the present invention, a sidebearer for use as a resilient connection between a railway vehicle and a bogie comprises a pair of rubber bushes between inner and outer housing members at least one of which has a bearing surface with which the longitudinal axes of the rubber bushes in the unloaded sidebearer make equal and opposite angles of less than 45, but preferably in the range to 35, more particularly 25.

The sidebearer may be used either way up, but is preferably used with the outer housing member uppermost, to lessen the possibility of dirt lodging inside the sidebearer. Conveniently, the bearing surface is the upper surface of the outer housing member, between flanged ends between the insides of which and the inner housing member are located the rubber bushes. For the further exclusion of dirt, the sides of the outer housing member are preferably closed by plates, which also serve to brace the flanged ends of the outer housing member.

For fitting to a new bogie vehicle, the inner housing member preferably comprises a saddle between the flanks of which and the flanged ends of the outer housing member are located the rubber bushes, the saddle having feet for securing to the bogie, e.g., by welding or bolts. For fitting to a bogie vehicle already provided with sidebearer pads on the underside of the vehicle and the upperside of the bogie for limiting vehicle roll, the inner housing member preferably comprises a pair of cheek members for fitting one at each side of one of the pads on the upperside of the bogie.

A bogie vehicle according to the invention has each bogie provided with a pair of said sidebearers, spaced one to each side from the pivot, with the rubber bushes in each sidebearer aligned with the direction of travel of the bogie, and the underside of the vehicle is provided with pairs of bearing surfaces similarly disposed with respect to the bogie pivots and mating with the bearing surfaces of the sidebearers, a friction pad being provided between each pair of bearing surfaces (and preferably carried by the bearing surface on the underside of the vehicle, to prevent dirt settling on the friction surface), so that each sidebearer is able to move with its bogie when negotiating curves of severity sufficient for the horizontal loading of the bushes in opposition to each other to exceed the frictional resistance of the pad, but in normal running the resilient horizontal loading of the bushes being effective to stop hunting of the bogie. The resilient vertical loading of the bushes is effective both against rolling of the vehicle body as a whole on its bogies and to permit the vehicle to negotiate twists in the track without there being an intolerable transfer of load transversely across the bogie. All the bushes are precompressed by the vertical load supported from the vehicle body.

The bushes are preferably built up as multiple sandwiches of rubber bonded to intermediate metal plates, preferably giving spring rates in the ranges one-half ton per inch to 8 tons per inch vertically and 12% tons per inch to 14 tons per inch horizontally, preferably 1% tons per inch vertically and 13% tons per inch horizontally, so that the load bearing contact at the bogie pivots will not be broken in the tare condition. The inner housing member preferably extends inside the outer housing member to such an extent that the vertical compression of the sidebearer from the tare condition will be limited to up to one-half inch, but preferably less than one-fourth inch, depending on the permitted vehicle roll. In the case of a bogie vehicle already provided with sidebearer pads for limiting vehicle roll, three-fourths inch of clearance between the pads in the tare condition will be sufficient for fitting each sidebearer and friction pads and leave no more than one-eighth inch for vertical compression of the sidebearer from the tare condition.

The invention will now be illustrated, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a transverse vertical section through the pivot of a railway bogie attached to and supporting a vehicle and provided with a pair of sidebearers according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section to a larger scale on the line 11-11 of FIG. 1 showing more of the construction of one of the sidebearers;

FIG. 3 corresponds to part of FIG. 2 but shows the sidebearer in its unloaded condition;

FIG. 4 is an elevation corresponding to FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a part-sectional elevation of another sidebearer according to the invention specifically for fitting to a bogie vehicle already provided with sidebearer pads, the sidebearer being shown in its unloaded condition; and

FIG. 6 corresponds to FIG. 5 but shows the sidebearer fitted on a bogie bolster and loaded by a vehicle.

In FIG. 1 a bogie has a bolster 1 pivoted on the underside 2 of a vehicle to which it is secured by a pin 3, and the ends 4 of the bolster are supported in the usual manner on compression springs 5 in openings 6 in side frames 7 of the bogie, the sides of the openings being the usual close fit to the sides of the ends of the bolster so that turning movements of the side frames will be transmitted to the bolster.

Spaced from the pivot pin 3, one to each side along the bolster l, are a pair of sidebearers 8 each comprising inner and outer housing members 9, 10 respectively (see also FIGS. 2 to 4), with the outer member 10 uppermost, to lessen the possibility of dirt lodging inside where a pair of rubber bushes 11 are located between the housing members. The bushes 11 are built up as multiple sandwiches of rubber 12 bonded to intermediate metal plates 13 and also bonded to inner and outer end plates 14, 15 respectively. The inner housing member 9 comprises a saddle with feet 16 which are welded to the bolster 1, and the inner end plates 14 of the bushes 1 1 are bent round the edges of the flanks 17 of the saddle to hold the bushes in place. The outer end plates 15 of the bushes ll nest against curved stop plates in the angles between the upperside 18 of the outer housing member 10 and flanged ends 19, which are braced by side plates 20 also serving for the further exclusion of dirt.

The upper or outer surface 21 of the upperside 18 of the outer housing member 10 of each sidebearer 8 is a bearing surface mating with a bearing surface 22 on the underside of a fabricated structure 23 (FIGS. 1 and 2) on the underside 2 of the vehicle, a friction pad 24 being provided between the bearing surfaces (and carried by the structure 23 to prevent dirt settling on the friction surface 25). All the bushes 11 are precompressed by the vertical load supported from the vehicle body, as shown by FIG. 2, without the load bearing contact (at the interface 26) around the pivot pin 3 being broken in the tare condition. The inner housing member 9 extends inside the outer. housing member 10 to such an extent that the vertical compression of the sidebearer from the tare condition (and represented by the gap between the bridge 27 of the saddle 9 and the upperside 18 of the outer member 10) will be limited to less than one-fourth inch, to limit the permitted vehicle roll accordingly.

The compressing of the bushes 11 is from the unloaded condition of the sidebearers, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in which the longitudinal axes of the bushes make equal and opposite angles of 25 to the bearing surface 21. The grade of the rubber 12 is preferablysuch that the spring rates of the bushes 11 are 1% tons per inch vertically and 13 /2 tons per inch horizontally. Each sidebearer 8 is able to move with its bogie when negotiating curves of severity sufficient for the horizontal loading of the bushes l 1 in opposition to each other to exceed the frictional resistance of the pad 24 (i.e., between the surface 25 and the surface 21 of the outer housing member 10), but in normal running the resilient horizontal loading of the bushes being effective to stop hunting of the bogie. The resilient vertical loading of the bushes 1 1 is effective both against rolling of the vehicle body as a whole on its bogies and to permit the vehicle to negotiate twists in the track without there being an intolerable transfer of load transversely across the bogie.

In FIGS. and 6 like reference numerals denote like parts to those in the preceding Figures, but the sidebearer differs in a number of respects because it is for fitting to an existing bogie vehicle already provided with sidebearer pads 28, 29 on the underside 2 of the vehicle and the upper side of the bogie bolster 1 respectively for limiting vehicle roll. The inner housing member comprises a pair of cheek members 30 for fitting one at each side of one of the pads 29 on the bolster, and the cheek members are preferably secured by welding as shown in FIG. 6. Each cheek member 30 has a step 31 for location of the inner end plate 14 of one of the bushes 11, and each plate 14 has flanges 32 to grip the sides of the cheek member. Because the bushes l1 lie more to the sides of the bolster 1 than bo 't th s'd b r'n FIGS. and6isa reciabl fong r tharf t h t b thie prece mg Figureg but thb satisfactory operation of the sidebearers is in no way affected. In order to make conversion of an existing bogie vehicle as straightforward as possible, the friction pad 24 is located on the bearing surface 21 of the outer housing member between two bars 33 welded across it. With three-fourths inch of clearance between the pads 28, 29 in the tare condition there will be no more than one-eighth inch for vertical compression of the sidebearer from the tare condition shown in FIG. 6.

What is claimed is:

1. In a bogie vehicle mounted on a transversely disposed bolster member of a railway vehicle, a pair of resilient sidebearers disposed between said bogie and said bolster member, each comprising:

an outer housing member;

an inner housing member;

said housing members being so disposed that each of their longitudinal axes lies parallel to said transversely disposed bolster member;

a pair of rubber bushes disposed between each of said inner and outer housing members, each of said bushes lying in a plane parallel to said longitudinal axes so as to be aligned, one behind the other, transversely with respect to said bolster;

a bearing surface on the upper surface of each said outer housing member;

the underside of said bogie vehicle being provided with pairs of bearing surfaces mating with each of said outer housing member bearing surfaces; and

a friction pad disposed between said bogie bearing surfaces and said outer housing member bearing surfaces.

2. In the bogie vehicle, according to claim 1, wherein said housing member pairs are of such a cross-section that the longitudinal axes of each pair of said bushes, in the unloaded condition of each said sidebearer, each make equal and opposite angles of less than 45 with each said outer housing member bearing surface. 

1. In a bogie vehicle mounted on a transversely disposed bolster member of a railway vehicle, a pair of resilient sidebearers disposed between said bogie and said bolster member, each comprising: an outer housing member; an inner housing member; said housing members being so disposed that each of their longitudinal axes lies parallel to said transversely disposed bolster member; a pair of rubber bushes disposed between each of said inner and outer housing members, each of said bushes lying in a plane parallel to said longitudinal axes so as to be aligned, one behind the other, transversely with respect to said bolster; a bearing surface on the upper surface of each said outer housing member; the underside of said bogie vehicle being provided with pairs of bearing surfaces mating with each of said outer housing member bearing surfaces; and a friction pad disposed between said bogie bearing surfaces and said outer housing member bearing surfaces.
 2. In the bogie vehicle, according to claim 1, wherein said housing member pairs are of such a cross-section that the longitudinal axes of each pair of said bushes, in the unloaded condition of each said sidebearer, each make equal and opposite angles of less than 45* with each said outer housing member bearing surface. 